*James Treacy.
‘WAR what is it good for, absolutely nothing’ is the famous line from Edwin Starr’s song released in 1970 and a tour organiser from Scariff will agree to it as further plans have had to be shelved due to the conflict.
Scariff’s James Treacy received national coverage for a dating tour he was organising to Ukraine in 2021 but the outbreak of war prompted its cancellation and for James to confirm the war “wasn’t my fault”.
COVID-19 led to the cancellation of tours to Fatima and the Holy Land in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Work was underway on returning to the Holy Land this year but war in Israel has led to these plans being scrapped.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, James reflected, “the war in Ukraine stopped me and so did the war in Israel”. He had been confident of making a profit of €7,000 from the Ukraine tour and €4,500 from the trip to Israel but is now lamenting the financial impact of the cancellations.
James was working as one of the key personnel for a Cork company for the trip. He explained of his involvement, “I help to organise the trip, I suggest hotels and organise for people to get on the trip, I escort them through the Airport safely, count them all and get them onto the bus and count them when they are on the bus, I have to make sure we have all the names on the list”.
Everything doesn’t always go to plan, he admitted. “Coming back one time, four people went missing in the Airport, they went for a meal so it wasn’t my fault, they missed the flight we were on and had to get the next flight, they missed the flight and it was their own fault, if you miss the flight it is your own fault because they are not children”.
He hopes matters will have resolved in Israel by next Christmas. “It is more volatile, it is a great place to go to if you can afford to, it is a fantastic place to go, I’ve been there seven times, we were fully booked for Christmas and we had to cancel two weeks ago, everyone has been refunded. Israel is a very fine place to visit. We would be in Bethlehem on Christmas Day which is in Palestine and I have been there five times at Christmas and on four occasions I was in midnight mass in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve. As soon as the war finishes we hope to travel again we couldn’t travel during the pandemic and now we cannot travel due to the war but hopefully next year we will be able to travel at Christmas”.
Two trips to Fatima are planned for next year, one in Easter and one in June. “Fatima is more guaranteed because there is no war in Portugal but it would be a disaster if there was a war in Portugal,” he said. James continued, “Fatima is a fabulous place says James we get lovely weather out there at Easter and June but it gets too hot in August for us West Europeans. We have not advertised our pilgrimage to Fatima yet because the hotels have not come back to us with a price but we do have the airline booked already for these pilgrimages”.
James is determined to travel to Fatima next year but flagged three conditions may stop the trip. “There are only three things that can stop me running pilgrimages to Fatima next year that is I suffer serious health problems or if there is a natural disaster out in Portugal such as an Earthquake or if I am in an accident and I cannot travel”.
